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It has been realised through substantial research that, Costs of Medical imaging for cancer patients have increased over the last decade, more significantly, in positron emission tomography (PET). 

Imaging usage in cancer has increased because of technologies, changes in diagnostic and treatment patterns, and changes in Medicare reimbursement. In order to investigate the changes and their affects on the overall cost of cancer care, the researchers assessed a nationally representative 5% sample of claims from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from 1999 through 2008. All patients had some type of cancer, including breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer or leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There were 100,954 cancer cases in all.

The researcers found significant annual mean increases in imaging use among all cancer types, particularly PET scans:

Positron emission tomography (35.9% to 53.6%)

Positron emission tomography (35.9% to 53.6%)Bone density scans (6.3% to 20%)Echocardiograms (5% to 7.8%)Magnetic resonance imaging (4.4% to 11.5%)Ultrasound (0.7% to 7.4%)

The use of computed tomography (CT) also increased in all cancer subgroups except lymphoma (4.5% to 7.6%).

Conventional radiographs usage reduced or stabilized the same in each cancer subgroup but remained the most heavily used modality for all diagnoses, at a mean of 4.3 to 12.2 procedures per patient, the researchers said.Patients with lung cancer or lymphoma had the largest increase in PET use.

Those with lymphoma or lung cancer had the largest number of imaging procedures. By 2006, for example, the average patient with lung cancer had 11 conventional radiographs, six CT scans, a PET scan, a separate nuclear medicine test, an MRI, two echocardiograms, and an ultrasound -- all within two years of diagnosis. Patients with these two conditions also incurred the largest overall imaging costs, exceeding a mean of $3,000 per beneficiary within two years of diagnosis. 

Overall, the researchers said, mean two-year imaging costs per patient increased at a rate greater than the increase in mean total costs per patient for all cancer types. Still, as of 2006, imaging costs accounted for only a small fraction -- 6% -- of total Medicare cancer costs. Nevertheless, the researchers wrote, the federal government has been cautious about increases in imaging costs. For example, the new healthcare reform law aims to reduce imaging expenditures by lowering payment for imaging tests. The authors noted that their study was limited by the accuracy of claims data.

"This rapid increase is largely due to the expanding number of indications for PET since the technology was approved in 1998 for the characterization of single pulmonary nodules and initial staging of non-small cell lung cancer," they wrote. 

Source : Journal of the American Medical Association